The paper looks into the effects of international migration and remittances on household incomes and well-being, poverty reduction, human capital investment, saving, and regional development in the home country. Remittances appear to raise average incomes for all income groups but more so for...

Taking off from the self-evident fact that the population variable centrally figures in both labor and product markets, this paper argues that the growth rate of population, its age structure and spatial distribution should be key considerations in a country’s development strategy to promote...

This paper looks into whether and how sub-national regions can benefit from a country's economic openness. Using data on the Philippines, it first notes marked disparities across its regions as reflected in economic and social indicators. The dominance of Metropolitan Manila in the national...

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is pushing for the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF). Originally proposed as a sovereign wealth fund, the MIF later on morphed into what can be called a sovereign investment fund (SIF): a state-owned investment fund that aims to...

"Health is wealth", though a cliché, has scarcely been uttered during this coronavirus pandemic. Not surprising as it has become second nature to individuals, while what we have is a public health crisis. So more appropriate is "health is economy." Indeed, health and economy are intimately...

Starting with the premise that technological innovation and economic growth are interactive and mutually reinforcing, this paper argues that in order to have a fighting chance in the Asean Economic Community (AEC), let alone global, competition, the Philippines (PH) needs to appreciably ramp up...